We do need saturated fat. Unfortunately, I can't recall the mechanism/reason for it, but we do. However, not all saturated fats are created equal, and we only need it in limited amounts. Sorry, but that's all I can remember at the moment.

I have a diet rich in saturated fat PLUS omega 3 fish oil and its probably the healthiest combination of fats in your diet and its better than getting either one exclusively on its own. We get enough omega 6 fats from fresh vegetables, nuts, legumes and using omega 6 fats as cooking oil is less than ideal. Mindyou its hydrogenated fats/transfats that you realy need to avoid.

Hydrogenated/transfats were the replacement to saturated fats in our food supply as saturated fats have paticular properties, in baking inpaticular that can't be replaced by unsaturated fats. This replacement happened because "scientists" and the "powers that be" led us to believe that saturated fats were rather unhealthy. Funny thing now is that all the evidence says that the replacement fats are by far the unhealthiest in our modern diets so they are now being phased out but the "scientists" and the "powers that be" cant quite bring themselves to admit that they didn't have any scientific evidence against saturated fats in the first place.

For optimal metabolic usage of your dietary fats, a split of 1/3 of each kind of fat is recommended. 1/3 monounsaturated, 1/3 polyunsaturated and 1/3 saturated. Just keep them in proportion and you should be just fine.

Everything in moderation. But, saturated fat is WAY better than hydrogenated fat with trans fat. So it is good as a replacement for your trans fat poisoned food.

+1 Trans fat is the real thing to avoid.

Saturated fatty acids are not considered essential because your body can make them itself; they are still useful and important. What you want to avoid is overwhelming your body with any one type of fat, as mentioned above.

Not always, for example butter naturally contains a large fraction of saturated fatty acids; but never underwent hydrogenation.

People misunderstand "fat" because the term is used so many ways. Fat on your body is adipose tissue; fat in your food is 3 fatty acids bound to glycerol (triglyceride). One of those fatty acids will be saturated in essentially all cases.

Furthermore, saturated fatty acids are not created equal. Butyric acid (the main fatty acid in butter) is a very short chain saturated fatty acid and has drastically different properties than say Stearic acid in meat. Iodine reactivity is a fairly poor way to judge a fat or fatty acids value.

This is interesting because if you are training, saturated fats such as those cited by Enthalpic and Anthony G are a very important component of ones diet. Mostly because that calories from fat are more efficiently used for energy, according to Joe Friel. For example, one gram of fat can yield 8-12 calories. Given this fact, he even goes so far as to recommend calories from fat in a range anywhere between 25% of ones diet to 35%--depending upon your training period and, or course, need. I am a bit lean and need to follow this more closely so I don't "disappear" by the end of this year. I have not heard this prior to reading his book...interesting.

Back to the op: I have nothing new to add...saturated fats: +1 on moderation and balance.

For optimal metabolic usage of your dietary fats, a split of 1/3 of each kind of fat is recommended. 1/3 monounsaturated, 1/3 polyunsaturated and 1/3 saturated. Just keep them in proportion and you should be just fine.

+1. Sat. fat is what keeps the testosterone flowing properly in both men and women (yes women have and need test. too).

After having done the anabolic diet I no longer fear fat - it fears me!

A trans fatty acid (commonly shortened to trans fat) is an unsaturated fatty acid molecule that contains a trans double bond between carbon atoms, which makes the molecule less 'kinked' in comparison to fatty acids with cis double bonds. These bonds are characteristically produced during industrial hydrogenation of plant oils. Research suggests that amounts of trans fats correlate with circulatory diseases such as atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease more than the same amount of non-trans fats, for reasons that are not well understood.

Saturated fatty acids

Saturated fatty acids do not contain any double bonds or other functional groups along the chain. The term "saturated" refers to hydrogen, in that all carbons (apart from the carboxylic acid [-COOH] group) contain as many hydrogens as possible. In other words, the omega (ω) end contains 3 hydrogens (CH3-) and each carbon within the chain contains 2 hydrogen

it is recommended to have < = 10% total saturated fat in your diet. to compare, it is recommended to have 0% trans fat in your diet. too much saturated fat can lead to heart disease. limit your saturated fat and replace it with "healthy" fats: the monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, such as fats from olive oil, nuts, and seeds.